May 23, 2012

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Bill would extend state tax break for ethanol-blended fuels

April 26, 2012 By

Ross Paustian

A bill awaiting the governor’s approval would temporarily maintain the tax advantage for ethanol-blended fuel. Representative Ross Paustian, a Republican from Walcott, was the bill’s floor manager in the House.

“What this bill will do, upon passage, is extend the ethanol tax credit on ethanol-blended fuel for one more year from July 1 to June 30, 2013,” Paustian said.

If state law isn’t changed, on July 1 the per gallon state tax on ethanol-blended fuels would go from 19 cents to 21 cents — the same rate charged on fuels that do not contain ethanol. The House approved the bill Wednesday. Paustian described it as a temporary fix.

“That’s because there’s been discussion of a fuel tax increase and this will allow us another year to continue the discussion and we want to be able to keep this ethanol tax credit in place during that time.” Paustian said.

Senators approved the proposal this morning. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, urged senators to continue the ethanol tax break.

“We are strong supporters of renewable fuels in this state and this is a simple, one-year extension of that,” Hogg said, “something that we need to do this year or else we have problems on July 1 with that favorable tax treatment for ethanol going away.”

The move will save Iowans who buy ethanol-blended fuel an estimated $8 million at the pump during a 12-month period.

Filed Under: Agriculture, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

Rest area recycling project looks ready to expand

April 25, 2012 By

Motorists could soon be seeing recycling containers at more Iowa rest areas. A pilot project at eight central Iowa rest areas located near Ankeny, Mitchellville, Story City and Waukee was launched nine months ago.

The Iowa Department of Transportation placed containers for recycling aluminum cans, and glass and plastic bottles at those sites. Iowa D.O.T. rest area administrator, Steve McMenamin, says the effort has been much more successful than previous attempts at recycling.

“We don’t have hardly any commingling of trash with recyclables…that’s been a real plus that was a problems in our previous attempts,” McMenamin said. Roughly 38,000 pounds of beverage containers have been collected and recycled at the eight rest areas.

McMenamin is now hoping to expand the project to some of Iowa’s 32 other rest area locations. “I would say it’s been a great success,” McMenamin said of the recycling project.

“It’s not going to be made available everywhere that we have rest areas because they’re pretty rural…but, at least in some of the metro areas, maybe we can expand the program a little bit.”

The pilot project was funded, in part, with a $20,000 grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. More than 15 million people visit Iowa’s rest areas every year.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Human Interest, News Tagged With:

Traffic camera ban wins House approval, Senate action doubtful

April 3, 2012 By

Traffic camera in Des Moines.

Traffic enforcement cameras would be banned in Iowa under legislation that won approval in the Iowa House tonight. Critics like Representative Walt Rogers of Cedar Falls say it’s a personal liberty issue.

“As I’ve talked to a lot of people about this issue around the state and in this building, back home, there’s one word that kept coming out very clearly — even from supporters of traffic cameras…and that word was hate,” Rogers said to open debate on the bill earlier this afternoon. “People hate these things.”

Representative Dave Jacoby of Coralville didn’t disagree, but he argued city and county officials should have the authority to install the cameras if they so choose.

“Traffic cameras — I hate them. They work,” Jacoby said. “It’s none of our business.”

The bill passed on a 58-42 vote. Representative Jeremy Taylor of Sioux City — where traffic camera fines used to run $190 — is a strong supporter of the ban.

“The out-of-state, for-profit vendor had 574 errors in Sioux City alone,” Taylor said during debate. “That ought to give this body pause if we’re talking about justice and if we’re talking about fairness.”

Supporters of the devices, like Representative Mary Wolfe of Clinton, argue they’ve improved safety on roads where speeders are caught on camera and at intersections where vehicles are caught running red lights.

“The first person who dies at an intersection where there was a traffic camera and we take it down — that’s going to be a difficult one for us to explain,” Wolfe said.

Representative Renee Schulte of Cedar Rapids said this bill was the number one concern of the constituents she talked with this past weekend.

“And it wasn’t to please ban the traffic cameras. It was to please let us keep the traffic cameras because it makes our S-curve (on Interstate-380) in Cedar Rapids more safe,” Schulte said. “Every day I get email about why I need to keep the cameras in my community.”

Others, like Representative Gary Worthan of Storm Lake, warned a culture that accepts traffic cameras would soon accept the use of more invasive “Radio Frequency Identification.”

“This is a rights issue,” Worthan said. “This is just the first step in a long process that puts the RFID chip under the skin and ‘Big Brother’ knows exactly what you’re doing every minute of the day.”

Supporters of the bill say 15 other states and 21 U.S. cities have banned traffic enforcement cameras. However, the bill is unlikely to be considered in the Iowa Senate. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal has often said if you don’t want a ticket from one of the red light cameras in his hometown of Council Bluffs, you shouldn’t run a red light.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,

Traffic camera ban “has nine lives”

March 31, 2012 By

The fear of a “big brother” society is driving some legislators to support a bill that would ban traffic enforcement cameras in Iowa. Others, like House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, say they’re concerned cities are using the tickets from traffic cameras to raise revenue.

“I’m from Linn County. We have both speed cameras and the red light cameras,” Paulsen says. “I don’t know a whole lot about the red light cameras. I haven’t had much exposure to them. I can tell you that the speed cameras on Interstate-380, the S-curve as it moves through town, has absolutely changed how people drive. I think that’s good.”

But Paulsen says the real problem isn’t how these cameras are operating today and that’s why the House last year tried to establish limits on the fines on tickets issued by traffic cameras.

“The problem is, well, how are these going to develop over time and experience in other states tell us that instead of a focus on public safety, it will turn into a focus on money, so it seems to me that we ought to be able to provide some regulatory framework for them to operate in,” Paulsen says. “But if we can’t do that, I’m not interested in leaving an unfettered, I guess culture of surveillance or government surveillance out there. I don’t think that’s acceptable either.”

Paulsen used his authority to keep a bill alive that would ban traffic enforcement cameras in Iowa and the legislation may be debated in the House next week.

“The interest seems to go up and down, but if a bill has nine lives, it’s definitely this one,” Paulsen says.

Paulsen made his comments during a weekend appearance on the Iowa Public Television program, “Iowa Press” which airs again Sunday at noon.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,

State may distribute far fewer free paper maps this year

March 26, 2012 By

The Iowa House has voted to save about $130,000 by dramatically reducing the number of Iowa maps the state buys and hands out for free. 

House Republicans who’ve been looking for ways to cut the state budget argue most people are using electronic maps these days, reducing demand for paper maps of the State of Iowa. Using a smartphone or GPS device, you just type in your address and your destination. A map pops up on the screen. Some provide directions from an electronic voice.

House Reppublicans have voted to set aside just $80,000 in the Iowa Department of Transportation’s budget for printing paper maps next year. Officials estimate fewer than 400,000 maps would be printed this year compared to the 1.4 million Iowa maps that were printed in 2011. Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines who leads the senate panel that drafts the DOT’s bugdet, says he’s willing to go along.

“Let’s give it a try,” McCoy says, “and if we find out people are upset because there aren’t enough maps, we’ll print more the following year.”

Representative Dan Huseman, a Republican from Aurelia, voted to cut the DOT’s budget for maps, but he suspects there will be a backlash.

“The department printed 1.4 million maps and they have about 85,000 left, so that tells me that people are still using them,” Huseman says. “They gave away about 700,000 of them at the rest areas, so people are stopping and using them.”

Other Republicans point to the 85,000 maps sitting in boxes somewhere as government waste.

Dena Gray-Fisher of the Iowa DOT says it’s up to legislators to decide how many maps are printed.

“People still appreciate and value that printed map,” Gray-Fisher says. “Especially if you’re doing pre-trip planning, it’s helpful to actually get that big map out and look at your route.”

It cost the state 15 cents a map to get the most recent maps printed. The DOT estimates the per-map cost will go up if the state cuts the size of its printing order by 70 percent.

In addition to maps that are handed out for travelers, Iowa schools use the free maps to teach students how to read a map.

All states offer free maps, according to Gray-Fisher, but the quantities available vary. She says some states sell advertising on the maps to pay for the printing.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Traffic cam ban passes House committee (audio)

March 21, 2012 By

A bid to ban traffic enforcement cameras in Iowa cleared a House committee late Wednesday afternoon, but its future is uncertain.

Representative Walt Rogers, a Republican from Cedar Falls, says he’s heard from countless Iowans who want the cameras outlawed. “This is an area that’s going into their due process, civil liberty rights,” Rogers said.

The bill passed the House Appropriations Committee on a 14-11 vote. Rogers expects the bill to be debated in the 100-member House sometime next week.

AUDIO of committee discussion of bill.

Representative Andrew Wenthe, a Democrat from West Union, warned that even if the bill passes the full House, the proposal is dead on arrival in the state senate. “An all-out ban has virtually no chance of passing,” Wenthe said.

Representative Tyler Olson, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, suggested traffic cameras in his city have reduced the number of accidents. ”The red light and speed cameras save lives,” Olson said.

But Representative Nick Wagner, a Republican from Marion, disagreed with the idea that speed is a major cause of accidents on Interstate-380 in Cedar Rapids/Marion  “What I found is precipitation played a bigger role in accidents than anything else,” Wagner said.

Representative Rogers, the main sponsor of the bill, said while there’s “very conflicting” data about traffic cameras, there’s a more important reason to ban them.”We’ve gone from a traditional, appropriate way of issuing tickets for years where there’s an officer in the field, to now we’re going to issue a ticket via a camera,” Rogers said, “and I believe that Iowans think that is wrong.”

The traffic camera ban passed the House committee with the support of 14 Republicans. Nine Democrats and two Republicans on the committee voted against the ban. Last week, the bill faced sudden death because it failed to win approval in the House before a legislative deadline, but the speaker of the House used his authority to send the bill to the Appropriations Committee. Bills in that committee are not subject to any deadline and can be debated at any time.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

House leader’s move means traffic cam ban not dead yet

March 15, 2012 By

A bill that would ban traffic enforcement cameras in Iowa has been revived.

Last night, the bill’s key sponsor announced the proposal would not be debated in the House — meaning the policy measure would fail to meet Friday’s deadline to clear the House and then a committee in the Iowa Senate. However, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen has used his authority to send the bill to the House Appropriations Committee, as all bills in that committee are eligible for debate at any time.

“Every now and then the chamber needs to take a step backwards to take a step forwards,” Paulsen says, “and that’s what we’re going to do on this bill.”

According to Paulsen, there’s a “great deal of interest” in keeping this issue alive.

“I think there’s a great deal of interest among Iowans,” Paulsen says. “I know there’s interest in the (House). At one point in time the bill had close to 70 votes, is my understanding — well, at least 65.”

There are 60 Republicans in the Iowa House and 40 Democrats. It takes 51 votes to pass a bill. Paulsen and other Republicans say Democrats indicated yesterday that they would not provide the extra votes to ensure the bill could make that 51 vote threshold and that’s why it was not debated in the House.

Friday is the deadline for policy bills to clear the full House and a committee in the Senate — or pass the 50-member Senate and a committee in the House. Bills that come from the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees, however, are exempt from that legislative deadline because taxing and spending issues may be considered at any time.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , ,
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